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History of Oklahoma Jazz – Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame
They call jazz “America’s classical music.” Jazz was born and bred in the United States; originally inspired by ragtime and folk songs, early jazz artists drew their musical inspiration from country...
View ArticleGlenn Burleigh – Oklahoma Artist Bio & Career
July 5, 1949 – December 7, 2007 Glenn Edward Burleigh was the first of three children born to Rev. Nathaniel and Iona Burleigh, July 5, 1949 in Guthrie, Oklahoma. He graduated from Favor High School in...
View ArticleStephen Wiley – Jazz Drummer
Stephen L. Wiley is recognized as the first artist to have recorded a full-length Christian rap album. Wiley was born and grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and attended college at the University of...
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Joe Liggins – R&B, Jazz & Blues Pianist
July 9, 1915 – July 26, 1987 Joe Liggins was an R&B, jazz, and blues pianist who was the frontman in the 1940s and 1950s with the band, Joe Liggins and his Honeydrippers. His band was often a...
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Justin Echols – New Orleans Jazz Club
Inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 2012, police officer Justin Echolscroons the standards with a voice as smooth as melted chocolate and manipulates the ebonies and ivories as if he were...
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Washington Rucker – Biography & Career
1998 Inductee Washington Irving Rucker was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on March 5th, 1937, and attended local schools through to graduation from Booker T. Washington High, developing a talent for the drums...
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Ruth Brown – Queen of R&B Bio
January 12, 1928 – November 17, 2006 Born Ruth Alston Weston in Portsmouth, Virginia, she attended I. C. Norcom High School, a historically black high school. Brown’s father was a dockhand who directed...
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“Papa John” DeFrancesco – Renaissance of the Hammond Organ
September 12, 1940 — Renowned jazz organist “Papa John” DeFrancesco is credited with bringing about the renaissance of the Hammond organ, and gained a national reputation for playing the organ in an...
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Donald Ryan – Classical, Religious & Jazz Pianist
A commanding and dynamic pianist, Donald Ryan has been called “a music kaleidoscope, sparkling at everything he plays.” This “everything” encompasses the arenas of classical, religious/inspirational,...
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David Amram – American Composer and Conductor of Orchestral & Chamber Music
Born November 17, 1930 David Amram has composed more than 100 orchestral and chamber music works, and written many scores for Broadway theater and film, including the classic scores for the films...
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